


Summer Dragons

by misura



Category: Winter of Ice and Iron - Rachel Neumeier
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-29 08:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16740223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Innisth deals with the Problem of Caèr. Kehera helps.





	Summer Dragons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cher/gifts).



Innisth felt awkward. It was not a sensation he had experienced very often before and he decided that he would be not at all sorry if he never did so again for the rest of his life.

"That bad, huh?" Caèr said.

Of course, the awkwardness wasn't Caèr's fault, but Innisth thought that Caèr might have been a little more sympathetic or, if that was too much to ask, a little less amused. Innisth certainly did not see anything at all amusing about the situation.

"You could marry." Innisth almost had to force out the words. "If you wished." The idea of anyone else having Caèr in their bed, of anyone else made him want to howl. Or rip someone's throat out with his bare teeth He would have liked to believe that it was Eänetaìsarè, but he knew that was not true.

Caèr had always been his. Like Eäneté.

"What a delightful idea," Caèr said. He smiled.

Innisth usually liked it when Caèr smiled. It made him feel good. It reassured him that he was not his father, that he would never be _like_ his father.

"The choice is yours." Innisth wished that Caèr would take this more seriously. Or, actually, he wished that Caèr would simply and at once tell him that Caèr did not possess the least desire to marry anyone at all, that he would be quite happy staying with Innisth and Kehera forever more.

It might even work, Innisth thought. Things would never quite go back to the way they had been before, that was impossible, after all that had happened. Still, not everything needed to change.

"Well, part of the choice is mine," Caèr said. "Part of the choice is yours. Your Grace."

Innisth wished that Caèr would simply tell him what he had decided. "No."

Caèr sighed. "You're going to be stubborn about this, aren't you?"

Innisth rather thought the word was _patient_. He was going to be _patient_ about this, about Caèr, who had been his for all these years. Who had been loyal and kind and as good a servant as Innisth could have wished for.

Caèr studied his expression. Innisth wondered what Caèr saw.

"Kehy sent me a courting poem, you know," Caèr said. His tone suggested that he was being generous. "It was quite nice."

Of course Kehera had sent Caèr a courting poem. She would think nothing of it.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Caèr's expression told Innisth that Caèr had done it to help him, and that Innisth should appreciate both that help and his wife. Innisth was willing to concede that he did indeed owe thanks to the Fortunate Gods for having made Kehera his wife - except that somehow, he felt that the Fortunate Gods had had far less to do with it than Kehera herself.

Caèr shrugged, smiling again. "It's nice to be courted for once."

"When I suggested that you might like to marry, I did not mean that you might run off with my wife."

"Do you think she'd come?" Caèr asked, tone genuinely interested.

Innisth wondered when Caèr had become so skilled at making him angry without _actually_ making him angry. Perhaps, he speculated, it was a gift Caèr had always possessed and had only kept hidden until now to surprise him. He shook his head, wishing Caèr would get to the point already.

"No, you're right. Probably not. I mean, think of the scandal." Caèr grinned.

"Yes. The scandal," Innisth said. He did not know what he would do if Kehera left him. He did not want to think about it, any more than he wished to contemplate a life without Caèr.

Nevertheless, if Caèr wished to leave, Innisth would let him go. Just like, if he broke his promise to her, or even if he did not, he would let Kehera go, rather than keep her with him against her will.

"So," Caèr said. "That's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. Does that answer all your questions to your satisfaction? If not, I'm afraid that I really can't help you."

"I don't need your help," said Innisth. He felt that Caèr had given him no other choice. For all Innisth knew, it might even be true. He did not need Caèr's help.

He _wanted_ it, yes, wanted Caèr as he wanted Kehera, as Eänetaìsarè wanted to make Caèr suffer and fear him, not for thinking about leaving, but simply because it desired such things.

Innisth would master his own desires, as he had mastered Eänetaìsarè.

However, he decided that there was no harm in indulging himself so far as to go and talk to his wife.

 

"Oh dear." Kehera's eyes were laughing. Innisth did not think that they were laughing at him, precisely, yet he still felt put at a disadvantage. Off-balance. And pleased, of course, to see her happy.

Innisth wondered if marriage made everyone's life more complicated, or if he had just gotten lucky.

"Perhaps you could explain a little more than that?" he said. What would she have put in her courting poem? Would she have written it herself, in her own hand? Did she known Caèr that well already?

Normally, it would be the man sending a poem to the woman, but given that Kehera was a princess, it was perfectly proper that she had sent one to Caèr. After all, Caèr was - well, he was not a prince. Or a duke.

"I'm not sure that I should." Kehera lowered her eyes demurely.

Innisth groaned. At least, he had meant to groan. As with Caèr, he would never allow himself to lose his temper around Kehera.

The sound that came out of his mouth sounded more like a snarl. Kehera looked startled. Not afraid, to Innisth's relief. Merely surprised.

"He cares for you a great deal," Kehera said. _Perhaps more than you deserve,_ her tone added.

Innisth would not argue with that assessment. On the other hand, he did not think that he had ever asked Caèr to care for him in the way that Kehera meant. He had asked service. He had expected loyalty, as he expected loyalty from all those in his service, everyone in Eäneté.

That Caèr had chosen to give him more than that did not put Innisth under any obligation. That would be like saying that Kehera had agreed to marry him because he loved her, rather than that because she cared for him in return.

"And I think that you care for him as well," Kehera said. This time, her tone added, _As I do_.

Innisth felt Eänetaìsarè rise. "You are telling me that he will base a decision that will determine the rest of his life on a stupid courting poem." He had thought Caèr to be smarter than that. More reasonable.

Innisth had always found Caèr very reasonable. A little too reasonable, he had thought from time to time, when he had not trusted himself not to hurt Caèr to satisfy Eänetaìsarè.

"Then you had better make it a _very good_ stupid courting poem, hadn't you?" Kehera smiled at him, showing teeth.

 

Innisth thought that had settled the matter. He trusted that Kehera would not have pressed him to keep Caèr with him if she had thought even for a moment that Caèr had wanted to leave, and he trusted Caèr to have made his wishes clear to Kehera, even if for some reason, Caèr felt that he could not speak his mind to Innisth.

He should have known that there would be more, although Innisth did not think that there was any way in which he could have known how much more.

"Hers was better, you know," Caèr said, stretching, his hair messy. There were marks on his body, not all of them from Innisth's hands, Innisth's teeth. The sight of those marks should have enraged Innisth, but instead, he felt pleased, sated, as Eänetaìsarè was pleased and sated.

"I am not a poet." Innisth thought that he had not done so poorly as that. Certainly, nobody had commented on the courting poem which he had sent to Kehera, least of all Kehera herself.

"Don't worry about it," Kehera said from the other side of him. Innisth felt that perhaps it should worry him to be so surrounded, and in his own bed, even.

Of course, strictly speaking, it was _their_ bed. His and Kehera's.

"Yes," Caèr agreed. "After all, you make up for such minor short-comings it in other ways." His tone was sly, inviting.

Kehera chuckled.

Innisth wondered how either of them had the energy left to contemplate such things, considering the past night. Then he wondered how he might extract himself from the two of them in order to get dressed and start his day. There was still much work to be done, decisions to be made, plans to approve.

"You know, I'll hold you down if I have to," Kehera said. "If you make me."

"I'd help," said Caèr, sounding cheerful.

Kehera grinned at him, like a wolf about to pounce its prey. "See? You don't stand a chance."

Innisth realized that the idea of yielding to the two of them in some small way did not quite repulse him. On the other hand, he had never put his own pleasure before his duty. It would be a bad idea to start doing so now, when he had so much more to lose.

Kehera sighed. "You need rest, Innisth."

"And staying in bed with the two of you is supposed to be restful?" There had been nights when all he had asked of Caèr was company, a warm body in his bed and nothing more than that.

Such nights had been rare, though. Plus, Kehera had been his wife for less than three months. Innisth was still learning what pleased her, what made her weak, what made her scream, or moan. Her body was not nearly as familiar to him as Caèr's had come to be. Like Caèr's body and Innisth's own were not yet familiar to her.

"I didn't say _that_ ," Kehera said, reaching for him.

Innisth decided that perhaps this once, both work and rest could wait.


End file.
